Tender Kisses
by Darkflameangel
Summary: On their way back from a boring mission, Naruto and Sakura stop for the night only to find that a scalded hand can’t prevent inner thoughts from leaking into outer actions. Both will come to terms with their inner thoughts.... oneshot


Title: Tender Kisses

Pairing: Naruto/Sakura

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 2,964

Summary: On their way back from a boring mission, Naruto and Sakura stop for the night only to find that a scalded hand can't prevent inner thoughts from leaking into outer actions.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, the fillers would die a fiery death.

Being stuck half way between Suna and Konoha with a hyper active hungry Kyuubi container wasn't exactly what Sakura had had in mind when she gone to Hokage tower yesterday to see if she had any missions. At the time, she had been hoping that Tsunade would stumble across some benevolence and grant her with a two week vacation and a raise, but seeing how that was something that wouldn't happen in any realm of reality that existed outside of her head, it didn't. Surprise. Surprise.

Instead, the kunoichi walked in on her Hokage drooling over, what looked like, some very important paperwork with a sake bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. Luckily, Sakura's less than quite entry saved her the trouble of waking Tsunade herself. Thus, saving her the trouble of healing chakra enhanced punch marks of surprise. After waking the older woman the last time and suffering the repercussions, Sakura hadn't wanted to repeat the performance.

It wasn't surprising that Tsunade would wake up fighting; rather it was what she screamed that spooked the young woman. Being accused of being Jiraiya was more than enough reason to avoid waking the Hokage, let alone the punishment that went along with the exclamation. Sakura really didn't want to think about why her Hokage was screaming the Sannin's name, for fear of the nightmares that could result. Which is why she made enough noise for Tsunade to wake up on her own.

For all the good that did, since she was saddled with this lame mission instead of the aforementioned vacation and raise. _Oh no…I had to take some old fart back to Suna with Naruto because the old man had loads of money and an equally large amount of paranoia to accompany his cash. Gennin could have done this mission with their eyes closed._ _But instead, two top Jounin had to do it. Not fair._

Sakura sighed at her bad luck. She should have known that Karma wasn't on her side. It usually wasn't.This was just one more case in point.

The fact that she had to go on a mission with Naruto wasn't what pissed her off. She was glad to spend some time with her former teammate, since she hadn't had the opportunity to work with him in a long time since they had both reached Jounin level. What pissed her off was that the official that they had to escort was a rather large smelly man who was under the delusion that there were shinobi behind every tree. In his deluded mind, those tree hiding shinobi intended to do him bodily harm and steal all the moldy money that he had.

Which was completely untrue, but seeing as the man had money enough to pay for an A class mission, the two former Team 7 members were stuck babysitting. At that point in time, Sakura would have given her right arm to be on a mission with Sai and Naruto again and have to deal with their bickering while doling out the appropriate punishment rather than have to listen to the smelly official and his case of paranoia. At least with Sai and Naruto she got to work out her aggressions in a physical manner, but a kunoichi could go around maiming the clients. It tended to be bad for business.

They had made it to Suna with their annoying aromatic cargo with no trouble at all and were able to finish their business with the Kazekage quickly. All they had to do in Suna besides deliver their client was take some classified scrolls from Tsunade to Gaara, so it wasn't all that time consuming. Although, they, rather Naruto, did spend some time trying to ferret out some information as to whether or not Gaara had a love interest. Sakura spent the inquisition wishing the floor would swallow her while Naruto prattled on endlessly.

Scratch the not having trouble part unless you intended to discount the fact that her anger had almost reached critical mass more times than she could count and that she was incredibly close to doing Konoha's noisiest ninja some serious bodily harm if he didn't shut up. Sometimes she swore he was twelve all over again. Which lead to their current predicament, a complaining Naruto and a tired cranky Sakura. Both of which were never good things when combined together in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey! Hey! Sakura-chaaaan! Are we there yet?"

"For the last time Naruto, NO! And if you ask me that question one more time, I will make it so that you are picking splinters out of your ass for the next week. Do you catch my drift?" growled the irate kunoichi.

"But Sakura-chan…."

"Naruto!"

The fox boy quickly shut his mouth after he got a good look at the throbbing vein on his teammate's forehead. When she got that look in her eyes _and _the pounding vessel on her forehead, good things were never the result. The last time that she had given him that particular look, which ranked a number 5 on a scale of 10 on the Sakura Anger Meter, he had ended up flying through two walls, 6 trees, and finally ended up sliding another 20 yards. Needless to say, it was in his best interest to keep his comments to his self for a little while. He was smarter than he looked, and he was rather fond of keeping his body in one piece.

Since Sakura wouldn't answer his questions, Naruto figured he might as well let his mind wander. Seeing as there was little else that went through his mind other than ramen, beating Sasuke, and learning some new jutsu, he fell back onto one of his most favorite thought paths. Which was also something that Sakura would probably beat him to death for if she ever found out that he was thinking it.

Even with all the time that had passed, Naruto still cared deeply for his pink haired teammate. In his eyes, she hung the moon. Before his dreams and fantasies had consisted of her acknowledging and accepting his affections, but now they tended to travel more along the lines of the things that he had read in Jiraiya's _Icha Icha Paradise _books. It was safe to say that Naruto understood why Kakashi liked those books so much now, they were like his fantasies all laid out for him.

Naruto also understood why Sakura attracted the attention of most of the men in Konoha. She may have been pretty when she was younger, but she was beautiful now. Her hair was much the same length that it had been after she cut it off during their first Chuunin exam, and her eyes were still the same deep green. The soft curves that she had developed tended to mislead people into overlooking her intelligence and fiery temper. Which was a very big mistake that most tended to find out fairly quickly after they ended up on the wrong end of her fists.

Naruto had beaten the crap out of quite a few guys in his favorite kunoichi's defense. The young man could only take so many suggestions of what these men wanted to do with his Sakura-chan's legs and in what position, before he lost his temper. In his eyes, she didn't deserve to be talked about like that (no matter that he had contemplated the very same things himself), and it was probably better that he exacted punishment rather than have them face Sakura's formidable ire. Although, there seemed to be something rather sexy about a woman that could beat the royal crap out of you. Well, so said the general consensus anyways.

As the pair leapt through the trees visions of pale skin and soft caresses floated through his head. Imagery of silken strands of hair sliding through his fingers as he pressed his lips firmly against hers distracted him from the monotony of travel as his thoughts traveled along a more carnal path than his feet were currently moving down.

Luckily for him, his brushes with matters of the sexual nature during his travels with Jiraiya had given him plenty of fodder for his fantasies. Unluckily for him, his brushes with matters of the sexual nature gave him even more vivid images to work with. Which was leading to the rather uncomfortable sensation that he was now experiencing. Said sensation was also making leaping through the trees that much more difficult. Especially since he really didn't want Sakura to find out that he was having certain difficulties in keeping his minds wishes from bursting into outer actions. While his mind continued its erotic voyage, Naruto tried to hide his…growing…condition from his companion.

After about an hour of travel, Sakura decided that they might as well make camp for the night seeing as Naruto was obviously hungry judging from the expression on his face. Besides, she was a little tired, and they were still a little over half a days travel from Konoha anyway.

"Naruto, why don't we find a place to make camp for the night and then we can head back to Konoha in the morning. Tsunade isn't expecting us to show up for another day. There isn't really any need for us to hurry."

"Alright, Sakura-chan. I think there is a stream up here that we can camp by," replied the slightly distracted Kyuubi container.

Naruto was glad for the stop, because it would give him a chance to take a cold dip in the stream and calm down before Sakura decided to beat the crap out of him for thinking perverted things. He really couldn't help it. Her legs _were_ distracting.

When they reached the campsite, Sakura set to work building a fire so that she could cook them both something to eat. Naruto had behaved relatively well after she had threatened to beat him into a bloody pulp, so she decided to reward him with a meal of ramen.

While Sakura was boiling the water for the noodles, Naruto took the time to wash up and tone down his body's reaction to the pink-haired woman's proximity. He knew that she didn't care for him in the way that he cared for her, and he never wanted to lose her as a friend. He was content to hide his feelings from her as best he could, even if it meant bottling up everything he felt so as to avoid scaring her off. Hence the trip to the nice cold stream.

Walking back to the camp site Naruto heard a sharp cry, followed by a stream of cuss words that could have made some of the most seasoned Shinobi warriors blush. He rushed into the clearing prepared for battle only to find his companion holding her scalded hand to her chest.

"What happened Sakura-chan?" asked the anxious blonde.

"The stupid pot started to tip over and I grabbed it not thinking," replied Sakura with a wince that wasn't just pain, but also embarrassment. Naruto being ever oblivious missed that part to Sakura's relief.

She was too embarrassed to admit the source of her distraction was due to the blue eyed ninja next to her. Too busy with the images running through her head, she had grabbed the hot pot before realizing what she was doing. Sometimes her shinobi reflexes were a bit of a detriment. _Stupid reflexes doing stupid things when I stupidly think of things I shouldn't be thinking of._

She cared more for the blonde ninja than she cared to let on. He was more than just a friend to her. She wasn't sure when friendly affections had turned to something more, and she wasn't quite ready to admit to herself, let alone others, that she liked Naruto in a way that could not be considered platonic.

Sakura moved over to her bag and rifled through it to find some bandages to fix up her hand. It was a minor enough injury that she didn't feel the need to use her chakra to heal it, so she was content to just wrap it in some bandages to keep it clean until she got home. But before she could clean the wound, Naruto grabbed her hand.

"Let me help Sakura-chan, you've taken care of me enough times in the past. Its time for me to take care of you for once."

"Naruto, I know more bout medicine than you do," argued the girl.

"I know, but just let me help you for once…."

"But…"

"Please, Sakura," pleaded Naruto as he gently held her hand.

"Alright, but be careful. It's kind of tender," Sakura conceded after she noticed his deliberate drop of the normally ever-present suffix from her name.

"I would never hurt you," mumbled the blonde as he gently brushed the dirt off the wound.

After he finished brushing the dirt from the wound, he applied the disinfectant, wincing at her hiss of discomfort.

"I'm sorry."

"No, its ok. It didn't hurt that much Naruto."

Bending over her hand, he blew on her hand gently. The wash of his warm breath over her skin made a shiver run down her spine and her breath catch in her throat. At her gasp, he turned his face up to look into her eyes. Her eyes seemed to mirror his every thought and feeling.

He leaned forward to press his lips to hers, and he was surprised when she didn't pull away from his touch. As the distance between him and Sakura decreased, the little voices in the back of his head began clambering for attention. The one that sounded suspiciously like Jiraiya was jumping up and down while practically salivating and one that sounded an awful lot like Iruka-sensei cautioned Naruto about the consequences of what he was about to do.

While Naruto didn't want to listen to the Iruka-sensei voice, the calm voice that sounded like Kakashi-sensei reminded him of the beatings an irate Sakura-chan could give out. It was that voice that finally managed to break through the lust induced haze that clouded his mind causing him to jerk back. _Mission Abort! Mission Abort! There be dragons ahead!_

"I better finish bandaging this up, huh?" He uttered nervously as he ran his hand shakily through his hair.

"Yeah," replied the roseate haired woman as she tried to look anywhere but at the man in front of her.

When was finished wrapping her hand, Naruto quickly made himself scarce, partially out of embarrassment and partially out of shame in himself. He wasn't sure what had come over him, but he was pretty sure that Sakura was never going to forgive him for his transgressions. _Stupid inner thoughts bleeding into outer actions. I swear I am going to give Ero-sennin a beating when I get back. It's all his fault. Now Sakura-chan is never going to want to be around me. She probably thinks I am the biggest pervert ever._

Meanwhile, across the clearing where Naruto was wallowing in misery, Sakura was sitting very confused. She could have sworn that Naruto was going to kiss her, but what made him stop. Did she have bad breath? Maybe something in her teeth? Either way, it led to the same point, which was her sitting by herself all wound up with no way to relieve the tension. It seemed that yet again Karma decided to screw her over.

Looking down at her bandaged hand, Sakura's lips turned downward into a frown. She decides to be nice and cook Naruto his favorite meal, burns her hand, then ends up all hot and bothered over the aforementioned shinobi, and now she is sitting here moping? Unacceptable.

A devious light entered her eyes as a plan came into her head. _Leave her all hot and bothered will he? Unintentional or not, he's going to get it. He won't see this coming. _

A few hours before the sun was to come up, a stealthy Sakura crept towards a sleeping Naruto propped up against a tree a few yards from the clearing where they were camped. She was intent on putting her plan into action.

Finally reaching his side, she took a moment to study his face before leaning in and pressing her lips against his. As she moved to pull away, his hand reached up and threaded its way through her hair keeping her in place. Bright blue eyes opened to look at her in confusion, all the while taking in her panicked expression.

"Sakura-chan, why?"

A barely audible, "Because you didn't," slipped out before she could stop it, instantly causing her face to flush. _Come on ground, now would be a good time for you to swallow me up. Gaara has a good thing going with that whole desert coffin thing. It would be good for times like this._

Not one to take his good luck for granted, Naruto quickly moved is mouth over hers in a gentle but firm kiss before leaning back against the tree so that he could see the woman in front of him more clearly. Sakura seemed to be stunned, but all to soon the moment was lost.

And true to Naruto style, he managed to trip the Sakura fist button with a cocky "So you like me, eh?"

True to Sakura form, Naruto was left laying in the clearing clutching the steadily rising bump on his head as an irate Sakura stomped out of the clearing muttering obscenities about presumptuous fox boys and other things that shouldn't be repeated in polite company.

Rising to his feet, Naruto dusted himself off with a grin on his face despite his aching head. _Heh, maybe I can talk Sakura-chan into kissing my new 'war wound'? Can't hurt to try._

In the back of his mind, the little Iruka-sensei voice was bound and gagged by the giddy Jiraiya-voice who was bouncing around in perverted glee, to prevent him from warning Naruto that despite Sakura's little display of affection, it probably wasn't a good idea to try that particular approach seeing as Sakura was probably going to add another bruise to accompany the first. Unfortunately, the voice was bound and gagged and Naruto was high on tender kisses, so warnings weren't heard and heeded.

But it really didn't matter, because as soon as the blonde broke through the brush at the edge of the clearing, Sakura had him pinned to a tree and began showering his face with kisses. In between kisses, his sly grin crossed his face. He supposed it was a good thing that Tsunade wasn't expecting them anytime soon, because he was pretty sure that they wouldn't be leaving for a while.

**Author's Notes:**

Entry for the Great Heaven & Earth Fanfiction contest. Key word: Kiss


End file.
